


Tagged

by Santa_Cruz



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Time Travel, F/F, First Meetings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23817673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Santa_Cruz/pseuds/Santa_Cruz
Summary: A photographer out during the night to capture Seattle's urban nightlife spots a graffiti artist that will change her life and have her running from rooftop to rooftop, leaving her own tag on a wall… Max was here.
Relationships: BlackAmber, Maxine "Max" Caulfield & Chloe Price, Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price, Rachel Amber/Sloane Black (OC), Victoria Chase/Kate Marsh, chasemarsh - Relationship
Comments: 19
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

On a clear night, Max had taken her two cameras to continue on with a project of capturing the urban nightlife of Seattle. The photographer wore a dark beanie along with old tapered cargo pants with an over the head, large hoodie and military jacket to keep warm. Her sling bag was tightly strapped across her back, with a camera pouch attached on the strap across her chest. 

She walked down a street that was once part of Seattle’s World War II manufacturing district of leather shoes and furniture. Now, the old brick buildings, after passing owners over the decades, had been abandoned for years now had a posting of new condo developments. What drew Max to the area was noticing the multitude of graffiti. It wasn’t the typical name tags but artwork from talented artists. Tonight she hoped to find a few wall sprays to take pictures of. 

As she walked further down the street she noticed someone else was out tonight. She smiled as she walked across the old, cracked pavement of a small parking lot with one light post working. _This is exactly what I wanted._ She looked up at the old scaffolding that had been placed by the side of a brick building and climbed up with ease.

An artist bounced on the heels of their feet while listening to music with headphones on. Max reached the top of the scaffolding and took note of the guy wearing dark baggy fitness pencil pants. They also wore a sleeveless hoodie with the hood drawn over their head. The backpack next to him was opened and stocked full of colorful spray cans.

Max leaned to the side with her Polaroid camera out. “Hey…” she said to get their attention. The artist paused for a second and Max thought he had heard her. Instead, the artist arched his back and then came forward and nodded their head to the music with their muffled voice singing behind a painting respirator mask. Max smiled and giggled, watching the person living in the moment. The photographer lifted her camera and took a picture of the tall, lanky artist with a sleeve tattoo in the bright moonlight. The artist turned to get another color of spray, flinched with a yelp then jumped back, seeing someone on the scaffolding near them, holding up a camera.

Max lowered her camera and she watched the masked artist quickly grab his pack and zip it up as he ran. The artist jumped and swung around the end of the scaffolding railing and descended quickly, hopping down from rail to framed rail. _Fuck! Go-go-go-go-go._

Max, surprised that the artist bolted, watched something fall from his pack as they swung it onto their back. “Wait!-” Max quickly put her film and camera in her front strap pouch and ran to the end of the scaffolding. “Wait!” she repeated. She picked up the dropped object and called out once more, “Hey! You dropped this!” The artist didn’t hear as they ran across the parking lot.

 _Shit!_ Max pocketed the item in her jacket and grabbed the railing, swinging herself around the outside of the scaffolding. She easily slid down the framework and ran full sprint towards an alley. _Fuck, I don’t like alleys._

Max cautiously entered the darkened area. There had been a number of times she had gone down them to get her shot and there were a number of times that she put herself into danger, barely getting away from being mugged or worse. _Fuck-fuck-fuck._ She glanced up at the sky, thankful for the full moon tonight to help light her way. The photographer stopped at a midway point in the alley. She placed her hand on the high fencing and looked up, seeing that the top edge was lined with barbed wire. _There is no way he got over this_. She turned around, wondering if the artist was right behind her or hiding. _Oh, fuck this was stupid_. Max heard a noise from above. She looked up to see him running up the floors using the outside fire escape stairs. He stopped for a second and saw Max on the ground, looking up at him, and continued up the stairs. Max quickly looked around, noticing that the fire escape ladder wasn’t lowered to the ground. She was too short to jump and hit the release for the ladder to lower. Max looked around again and guessed the artist’s path. She climbed part ways up the fence then jumped diagonally onto the closed metal dumpster by the brick building. Max only had three quick strides to make the leap. She grabbed onto the edge of the outer fire escape, with her body swinging forward, then easily lifted herself up. Max lifted her legs one at a time over the railing and ran up the stairs, taking two at a time.

The artist reached the roof and lowered his headphones around his neck and peered over the edge. They turned off their music as they watched the pursuer climbing the staircase. _FUCK!_ They took off running again, feeling the adrenaline in their body.

As Max ran up the stairs she passed a window and saw two people asleep on the sofa bathed in the light of their tv. The next floor, the lights were off in the apartment. On the top floor, a man stood in front of the fridge having an after-midnight snack. Max saw a chair on his balcony and in two strides she placed a foot on the seat, then her other foot was on the railing, and then her next step was her sneaker on the brick wall to give her a little bit of lift to grab the roof’s edge.

Max got herself up and over then ran across the empty rooftop to look around. When she got to the edge of the building she spotted someone getting to their feet from the building across from her. The artist looked back at Max before he turned again and jogged away.

Max looked over the building’s edge and at the three-storey drop below. She looked up at the artist casually jogging away. _Dammit_. She moved away from the edge. _I should’ve waved my hand or something to get his attention didn’t mean to scare him_. Max let out a breath of air then turned in full sprint with a smile; she was enjoying herself. She ran towards the ledge and in one movement leapt across the alleyway to land on the opposite roof’s building in a side roll. Max got to her feet and continued following the artist who was hopping over exhaust ventilation and other rooftop obstructions. The photographer looked to her left and smirked. In three quick moves, she got herself up and on top of one of the building’s air ducts and ran without any obstruction, gaining ground.

“Hey!” Max called out as her feet drummed against the metal ducts.

The artist, surprised, turned to look over their shoulder. He didn’t see Max behind him on the roof’s asphalt but above and almost caught up. The artist immediately changed direction and sprinted perpendicular, away from Max and towards the building’s edge. Max hopped down and landed on the building’s concrete edge, not giving up. The two ran across the roof; the artist jumped over pipes and units then ducked under a few ventilation shafts. In the last ten feet, he was able to get up enough speed and jump to the next rooftop. The artist landed into a roll then got to his feet, surprised to hear Max landing on the roof seconds behind him. He panicked and ran again, not towards the next building but towards Max, who was coming out of a roll. The photographer got to her feet just as she was tackled and taken right off them. She hit the ground with a grunt.

The artist pinned Max’s arms over her head. Max shouted at the masked person that had straddled her and was squeezing her wrists. Panic set in and Max shouted, “Lemme go!” as she thrashed around. The artist stopped and stared at Max, seeing her in the moonlight. “Get off!” Max yelled. Pinned down, she started kneeing the artist in the back, knocking him forward and off-balance. Max got a hand free and jabbed her fist into his side. He let out a pained high-pitched grunt then leaned back, holding his side. Max grabbed and hauled down the artist’s mask. The artist leaned back from the clawing girl, trying to get and keep a hold onto Max’s wrist. Max turned her wrist down and around, getting it free again and took another swing, this time it was blocked. The artist quickly grabbed the photographer’s wrists and pinned the girl back down on the rooftop. Max twisted and bucked her body around trying to break free. She looked at the unmasked artist’s face; it was heavily shadowed by their hood but the moonlight picked up some of his facial features, including one that made Max stop struggling. Two beautiful blue eyes and the pale skin of a girl. The two stopped struggling for a moment, breathing hard, close to each other. They stared, taking in the other’s moonlit features. The strong grip on Max’s wrist loosened.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” A security guard that was on the roof having a smoke shouted out after spotting the commotion. The two girls looked over and saw the guard take his flashlight from his belt. The artist immediately got off Max and onto her feet. She held out her hand for Max to take. Max looked at the offering and took it getting hauled to her feet in one yank. The two girls ran from the guard to one of the building’s ledges. “Don’t you fuckin’ jump!” the guard yelled. Max smiled and looked over at the girl running next to her. She noticed a little bit of blue hair from the corner of the girl’s hood. The artist looked over at Max then winked as both took the leap. 

“Goddammit, the assholes are at it again up on the rooftops!” The security guard reported on his radio. “Get them here now!” The guard jogged to the building edge, seeing two figures running away. “They just jumped on the Thompson building.” The guard turned with his flashlight, looking around the roof. “What the fuck did you do up here now?” The guard didn’t pursue, he was more worried about what the vandals had destroyed or purposefully messed up.

The two girls landed on the rooftop in a roll and continued their run. The artist hopped up and slid across an air duct as the photographer rolled under a pipe. The two parkoured their way across the building with the artist pointing to an access ladder on the side of the building.

Both girls held onto the outer edge of the ladder and slid down for a rapid descent. When they reached the ground, a security cart turned into the alley with its yellow light blinking. One of the guards yelled, “You two, stop!” The other reported their findings on a radio as they were forced to stop pursuit because of a midway fence dividing the alley. The blue-headed, hooded girl smirked and gave the two security guards the finger before both girls ran for the exit of the alley and the main road. The artist with longer legs emerged from the alley first. She noticed the traffic and made a snap decision to dart across the street. Max emerged not far behind. 

The artist reached the sidewalk and turned, the girl hadn’t followed. The two looked at one another from opposites sides of the street as traffic passed by. The blare of sirens from two police cars in opposite directions sped towards them and drew their attention away from one another. Max immediately walked quickly up the sidewalk, stepping in front of a few people. She took off her beanie and removed her sling bag and held it in her mouth as she took off her jacket and turned it inside out, revealing the dark maroon color. Max placed her jacket and sling back on, lifted her hood up and walked away from the stopped police cars a couple of yards away. One cruiser’s spotlight was turned on and pointed, thankfully not at Max, but down the alley. The other cruiser had parked on the opposite side of the street and two officers stepped out. The photographer looked back; the artist was nowhere to be seen. Max kept walking, not stopping for anything. She climbed the stairs to the Light Rail Transit platform and stood behind a pillar with her eyes on the stairs, hoping the police were not pursuing. Her heart raced, waiting for the next subway. She didn’t know if it was from the escape or from the girl with the blue eyes.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An auburn-haired girl rolled up on her skateboard in the back alley of a brick building, passing a parked, old, beat-up, tan truck. [ The music from an outside store speaker](https://youtu.be/3EP7422hggs?t=3) played as a girl with blue hair, wearing a mask, spray painted a skate deck hanging by a wire. 

“S’up, Chlo,” she greeted her workmate.

The blue-haired girl turned, seeing her friend. “Mornin’.” Chloe did a double-take, seeing what was in the girl’s hand and mouth. “What the hell are you eating?”

The girl quickly stepped on the back of her skateboard, raising the front for her to pick up without bending over. She looked at Chloe with a bagel hanging out of her mouth. “Wut?”

“My mom’s food not good enough for yah?”

“She doesn’t have Montreal bagels.”

Chloe lowered her mask and pointed, “You’re gonna hurt her feelings if she sees that bag.”

The beanie-headed girl waved the breakfast bag up by her face. “I guess you don’t want a cinnamon raisin one then?”

Chloe eyed the bag then back at her friend. “Give it here.” Chloe placed the spray can down and took off her latex gloves. Before she took the offered food bag, she looked down the back alley to the side of the building where a twenty-four-hour diner was and where her mother worked. “Just don’t tell her I ate it.” Chloe dove into the paper bag then chomped down on the bagel with a hum. “-uck --ese are sooo -ood,” she stated with her mouthful.

“I should take a pic for blackmail,” the workmate said, putting her skateboard over her shoulder and walking past Chloe with a smirk.

Chloe watched as the girl walked into the back door of the paint shop, “Steph, seriously don’t tell mom,” Chloe followed behind, “she saw me with a Mickey D’s breakfast once and the friggin’ glare she gave me… dude, it sent chills down my spine.”

Steph placed her board up against a wall and both girls walked to the front of the shop. Chloe put the breakfast bag on the counter then walked up to the front entrance and put the keys in the lock. Steph adjusted the music to a reasonable level, meaning that you didn’t have to yell to talk. Vortex was open for business.

\-------------------

A pixie blonde-headed girl was leaned over at a lightbox, looking at slides, “-then what happened?”

Max was at her desk adjusting some of the pictures on the computer that she had taken for the past few nights. “I was tackled and pinned to the ground-”

The pixie looked up, concerned. “What!”

Max, seeing the girl worried, replied with a hand held up, “It’s okay-”

“No, it’s not okay-”

“But-”

“Don’t ‘but’ me, you-”

“What’s going on?” A girl with blonde hair in a ponytail walked into the office room. She looked at Max then at the short-haired blonde, concerned.

“Max was assaulted last night.”

The ponytail blonde replied loudly and looked at Max, “What?!” 

Max replied, “Kate, I wasn’t assaulted… per se...”

“Then what do you call it?!” the pixie cut asked, walking over to them.

Kate handed Max a tea from a take-out carrying tray, eagerly listening, “Victoria, stop yelling.”

“She was assaulted!” Victoria repeated.

Max added. “Per, se,” to Victoria and a “Thanks,” to Kate.

Kate passed Victoria her tea. The taller girl leaned over to give her a kiss on the forehead, “Thanks, Bunbun,” then took a sip of her tea. “So, you wanna explain?” she asked, looking at Max.

The front door opened to the Daguerre Photo and Print Shop. A bike courier walked in, carrying their bike over a shoulder. “Hey-Hey.” She took off her courier bag and took out a padded envelope.

The three girls turned and greeted her. Victoria walked to the front counter.

“Hey, V,” the courier said.

“Hey Slo, whaddya got?”

“For you, edible undies and I haven’t had lunch yet,” Sloane wiggled her eyebrows.

Kate leaned against Max’s desk and replied with a smile, “Slo, stop flirting with my girlfriend.”

Victoria smiled and Sloane replied, “But I love how V looks at me. It’s like she wants to dive over the counter n’ have her way with me.”

“Or throttle you,” Victoria said with a wide, fake smile.

Sloane chuckled, “I do like it rough...” She handed over the envelope and looked at the two girls behind Victoria who were trying not to laugh. “What’s up today, ladies?”

Before the two in the back could reply, Victoria did, “Max got assaulted last night.”

Sloane looked from Victoria to Max, concerned, “Are you okay?! What the fuck happened? Did you report it?”

Max stopped the girl from continuing her questions, “I’m fine, I’m fine. Like I said to V, it wasn’t an assault, like a normal assault.”

“What does that mean?!” Sloane replied. “Seriously, Maxie, I know you’re doing the whole ‘night urban’ thing right now but you gotta protect yourself.”

Kate added, holding her tea container with two hands, “Maybe you should carry around something for protection from now on.”

Sloane dove her hand into her courier bag. “I got this sucker here for when shit goes down.” Sloane took out and pressed the trigger on a taser, emitting a crackling sound and a blue electrical discharge at the front. “This will take anyone off their feet. I tasered myself once-”

“Of course you did,” Victoria replied, signing Sloane’s phone for a signature of delivery. Sloane continued with a smirk, “I woke up on the floor…” Her eyes narrowed and thought, “n’ I may’ve peed a little in my pantaloons.”

Victoria tilted her head to the side, looking at Sloane like she was a moron. The two girls behind laughed.

“Look into it please, Maxie.” Sloane put the taser away. “So, what did they look like?” The courier leaned on the countertop and quietly added to Victoria, “So, were you turned on that I peed myself?”

Victoria’s eyes widened, “Oh my God!”

Sloane started laughing and leaned back from the counter, “Hey, you said you would like to throttle me, I’m just finding out what other kinks you like, for Kate’s sake.”

Kate replied with a wide smile, “Sloane, stop… you’re embarrassing Tori.”

Sloane giggled, seeing the pixie’s cheeks flush. “Right, so, Maxie,” Sloane said, going back to her questions about Max.

Max replied, “It was a girl...” Max bit the corner of her lip, “with beautiful blue eyes.”

Victoria turned, “So?!”

Sloane smiled and elongated her word, “Ooou.”

“That assaulted you,” Victoria added, staying on the point that her friend was attacked.

Max had her tea container up to her bottom lip, thinking about the moment last night. “If you saw what she looked like-” Max looked up at the two girls by the counter, “you would want her to pin you, too.”

Sloane laughed cheerfully, “Hot damn!”

Victoria crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You need to explain everything.”

Sloane agreed, “Right.” Victoria turned to see Sloane looking a little more serious. She turned back to Max and Sloane with a Cheshire smirk then added, “In more detail, like how she pinned you to the ground. Was she straddling youuu or-”

Max smiled, Kate giggled into her tea and Victoria looked over her shoulder, glaring at the courier.

Sloane closed her courier bag and eyed Victoria, hiding her wide smile, “So, do you have a name?”

Max replied, a little bummed out, “No, I didn’t get it. A security guard came and we had to run... then the police showed up-”

Kate replied, surprised, “What?!”

Sloane laughed again, “That is awesome!”

Victoria turned back at the courier, “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“Hmm, how about you, me and a tub full of Jello?” Victoria didn’t answer. Sloane slowly leaned to the side and into Kate’s view. “Katearoo, food sex is off the kink list.” Sloane glanced at Victoria’s scowl, “Definitely off the list,” Kate smiled and giggled a little as Victoria lightly shook her head. Sloane placed her courier bag over her shoulder and tightened it up. “So, Maxie, you still interested in a set up with one of my friends?” Sloane asked, picking up her bike and placing it back onto her shoulder. “Or are you gonna find out who this mystery girl is?”

Victoria furrowed her brow, “You’re setting Max up on a blind date?”

“Yeah, if you’re still interested?” Sloane replied, looking at Max.

Max tilted her head, “I kinda wanna find out who this girl is.”

Victoria turned back to Max, “The girl that assaulted you.”

Kate replied with a small smile before she took a sip of her tea, “With beautiful eyes.”

Sloane added, “Who pinned her to the ground, Mrrowow.”

Victoria turned back to Sloane again, giving her a look. The courier replied with a hand up, “Alright, alright, I get it, I’m gone.”

Victoria smiled, “Be careful.”

“Will do, Lady V.” Sloane turned around and walked towards the exit. “Lemme know if you don’t find this mystery lady. Then I’ll set you up on a date.”

Max asked, “What’s her name?”

Sloane opened the door and replied, “Chloe. Later, ladies.”

\----------------------------------------------------------

“So you gonna go out again tonight?” Steph asked Chloe as she handed over the bag of spray cans to a customer. “Thanks, man,” Steph said to the customer, then looked back at her workmate. 

Chloe was leaned over the counter, drawing on her tablet. “Yeah, I wanna get that piece done.”

“Imagine if your mystery girl showed up again.”

Chloe stopped drawing and looked at Steph, “Dude.” She sighed thinking about it, “that would be awesome.”

Steph smiled, “You’re really taken with this girl that you didn’t say a word to and had five minutes with… while you ran away from security, then the police.”

“I do show the ladies a good time,” Chloe replied with a smile.

Steph leaned sideways on the counter. “So, she’s a brunette, blue eyes has freckles and she can keep up with you on the rooftops. Aaand is a possible photographer or a person that has a hobby. What else do you have to go by?”

Chloe really didn’t have much else. “She’s uhmm, shorter than you,” Chloe smiled happily. “Smol, pint-size.”

The front doors to the Vortex opened. “Hey-hey.”

The two shopkeepers replied, “Slo.”

“What it is, ladies?”

“It is what it is,” Chloe replied and fist-bumped her friend. “How’s the streets?”

Sloane took off her bag. “Sucks today, the off-ramp to 3rd Avenue south is closed. Some fire under it has fuuucked up all kinds of traffic.” Sloane handed over a package to Steph. “I dunno if it was an accident or what but it’s brought out all the impatient crazies today.” Sloane put her courier bag over her shoulder again and got Steph to sign for the package. “Been called all sorts of nice things today.”

Chloe replied with a smirk, “I’m sure you replied in kind, as well.”  
“I’ve been very imaginative with my ‘fuck you’ sign language today, I am but a simple friendly neighborhood courier.” Sloane smiled as she pocketed her phone and looked at Steph. “So, DM, you want me to set you up?”

Steph’s shoulders slumped, she knew it was coming. “Slo… I dunno.”

“What?... Listen, she’s a cheerleader at Seattle U.”

“So a ditzy blonde with a name like Tiffani that is spelled with an ‘i.’”

“Dana,” Sloane replied. “Auburn, a little darker than yours, taller than you,” Sloane raised an eyebrow and added, “Cause I know you like the ladies taller than you.” Steph glanced away and Sloane continued, “Who is studying physiotherapy.”

Steph was not convinced. Sloane rolled her eyes as Chloe snorted. “Steph... athletic girl that likes to be tossed around,” Sloane winked and added, “wink-wink, who is studying phys-io-ther-epy. Dude, she’s smart and she’ll have to, like, practice her techniques on people.” Sloane pointed to her friend, “And that people could be you.”

Steph stared for a moment and gave in, “Fine.”

“Yes!” Sloane cheered, then asked, “Was it the cheerleader part, or was it that she likes getting tossed around or that she will get all touchy-feely on yah butt?”

Chloe chuckled, looking at Steph’s blushing face.

Sloane smiled and replied simultaneously with Steph, who looked away, “All of them.”

“Alright,” Sloane, happy that Steph agreed, “I’ll get her to text you.” Steph nodded. “Chlo, your moms workin’ today?”

“Yep.”

“Cool beans, we still on for a dungeon crawl tomorrow?”

Steph nodded. “Yep.”

“Smurfy. Callamastia, don’t forget your dice.”

“Yeah-Yeah,” Chloe replied, giving Sloane a fist bump.

Sloane opened the door. “Dispatch, it’s Slo, I’m takin’ my luncharoo…” The door closed and Chloe turned to Steph, trying not to smile. “So… will this Dana be tossing you around or vise versa?”

Steph, wide-eyed with her mouth a little open, didn’t answer but turned a darker shade of red as Chloe snorted and snickered.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Max swung her legs back and forth as she played with a spray nozzle cap that was left behind. She looked at the time again. _12:07 am._ She pocketed her phone, put the nozzle cap in her jacket pocket, and stood up from the scaffolding. Max couldn’t stay any longer, she had to open the shop tomorrow morning. _It was wishful thinking._ She turned around and the moonlight caught the photographer wearing the three bullet necklace that the artist had dropped the night before. Max looked at the artwork that the mystery girl had started and opened her sling bag. Max had thought ahead, it was a long shot to have the girl show up again after what happened, but Max hoped that maybe the artist would show up eventually to finish her artwork. Max sprayed in white a small picture of a polaroid camera and film next to the artist’s unfinished work. Under it, she wrote, “I ran after you.” Max capped the spray can and put it back in her bag. She descended the scaffolding and jogged away from the building, hoping that it would be eventually read. She reached the main road and took out her phone.

**TEXTuя**   
**📷Max 🠆 🐇Kate**

**Max: :(** she didn’t show

 **Kate: :(** maybe u can try tmrw

 **Max:** Idk, I feel like a creep, like I’m stalking her

 **Kate:** I think it’s sweet that u want to meet her.  
Just wish it wasn’t at a dark abandoned  
building.

 **Max:** Cu tmrw

 **Kate:** Night

 **Max:** Night

Max put her earbuds in and [listened to music](https://youtu.be/Qig_yQA7s3w?t=2) as she walked down the city street.

A dark figure emerged from an alley. She peered around a corner then looked around the overgrown cracked parking lot. Seeing that no one was around, she sighed, a little disappointed. _Yeah, cause she would’ve shown up after you tackled her_. Chloe hopped up on one of the scaffolding railings and climbed the framework up to her spot. She took a moment again to look around for any sign of anyone, then walked to her artwork. The moon was out again tonight, giving her the light she needed instead of using a headlamp. She turned and removed some of the old torn and weathered tarp hanging off the scaffolding, giving her some needed light. Chloe took off her pack and looked at her project. She stopped, seeing the new addition. The artist placed her finger on the wall then lifted it away, noticing it was still wet. _She was here! Like here-here!_ Chloe spun around and looked over the area. She picked up her pack and put it back on then descended the scaffolding. There were three directions the mystery girl would’ve gone. The fourth was not an option as Chloe never saw the girl walk past her in the other alley she just walked up from. Further down the street, there was nothing but empty lots and business closed for the night. Up the street was the main road. Chloe then looked at the alleyway she ran through last night. _Would she have followed the same path again?_ Chloe’s heart rapidly pumped in her chest. She whispered, “She was just here. Which way?” Chloe bounced on the balls of her feet looking in each direction and took a guess. She ran down the alleyway hoping the mystery girl followed that same path they took last night.

\-------------------

Chloe jogged across another rooftop, looking around. When it came to the second last building, she opted not to jump onto the roof, knowing that there was security up there somewhere, so she climbed down the building’s fire escape stairs and emerged onto the main road. She jogged up the sidewalk, moving around people and looked around. _Would she wear the same jacket and beanie?_ Knowing that both were black, Chloe cursed. It seemed that everyone around her was wearing a dark jacket. She looked at the faces of the people around her, hoping to see the spray of freckles from a pretty brunette girl with deep blue eyes. Chloe came to a stop at the alleyway in which they separated last night. _Fuck, why did I run across, I should’ve made sure she was behind me_. She looked up the street then across the road. Chloe couldn’t find the girl and continued jogging up the street.

Forty minutes later, Chloe was back at her project site with a spray can out. She put the can back in her pack, zipped it up and put it on. She descended the scaffolding and jogged off into the night, hoping that tomorrow there would be another chance. The moon peeked from the clouds, giving off its light. A new message was left behind, “You leapt with me.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ahh, that’s a seventeen,” a guy replied across the table, looking at his dice.

“Alright, it takes seventeen points of damage, the Burrowshark is bleeding. You damaged its underbelly knowing that it’s a fish out of the water... or dirt, as it were.” The group around her groaned at the wording. Steph smiled and continued as she rolled a die, “Okay… At an incredible pace, it burrows into the ground below itself, escaping back underground to the tunnels below. What do you want to do?”

The group all look at each other and started a discussion as Steph’s phone booped with a message.

A girl with long, strawberry blonde hair, wrapped in an oversized flannel, long-sleeve shirt replied, “I take it the coffee date went well?”

Steph looked up from her phone, getting caught with a smile, reading the latest message from Dana. “Uhmm,” Steph glanced at the girl smiling back at her, “Yeah, it was really good.”

Sloane hummed with pride, “I am the Matchmaka.” She took the last mouthful of beer in her bottle and stood up. “Anyone want anything from the kitchen? I gotta pee.”

“Beer me,” Chloe said, passing Sloane an empty.

“Steph, Mikey, Stellers?” They all shook their heads. Sloane looked down at the girl sitting next to her, “What about you, beautiful?”

“No thanks, babe, ‘member, one of us has to drive us home. Just remember, next week you’re driving while I drink champagne at the gallery show.” She smiled.

Sloane leaned down and kissed her girl, “Thaaank you Chelly,” Sloane replied in a goofy, loveable way, “Brb.”

“I still have another RSVP if you wanted to go, Chlo,” the strawberry blonde said.

“Eeh, Rach, I don’t think artsy-fartsy stuff is my thing,” Chloe replied.

Rachel rolled her eyes, “It’s not like that.”

There was another boop from Steph’s phone. Rachel turned her attention to Steph again. “Wow, look at you, getting some messages tonight.”

Steph smiled again, not taking her eyes off her phone and replying. Rachel turned to Chloe, “What about you, you ready to jump back on the dating scene again? Slo’s been keepin’ an eye out.”

“I’m kinda following up on someone that I met a couple of nights ago,” Chloe replied.

“Oh?”

Steph snorted as she texted Dana back, “Met is a strong word.”

Rachel, confused, looked back and forth at each girl. Chloe ate a chip and told Rachel the story of meeting the mystery girl.

\-------------------------------

“So are we going to actually play the game or what?” Mikey asked, looking at his DM, who was still texting and then at Rachel asking tons of questions to Chloe about the mystery girl.

“You shush,” another girl, Stella, said from across the table, “You already have a girlfriend.” She then joined the questioning, “Are you gonna go there tonight? You better.”

Chloe bit the corner of her bottom lip, “I’m… feeling kinda nervous.” She scratched the back of her beanie-covered head. “I really want to meet her, there was something-”

“Something?” Mikey replied with a small chuckle, “Like when she scared the shit out of you or when you tackled her to the ground?”

Stella retorted, “You shush!” Mikey continued quietly chuckling. “When are you meeting her?”

“After this. God, I hope she’s there,” Chloe replied.

Sloane came back into the room with two beers and a mouthful of pizza. “So I thought about it. If we tie Rach by the ankles and lower her down-”

“We what?!” Rachel replied. “No way. Why me?”

“Cause you’re an elf and that means you’re light. We take the other end of the rope and wrap it around a tall tree branch and Callamastia can haul you up as the Landshark makes a chomp at you.”

“I am not a worm on the end of a fishing pole!” Rachel replied.

“Hear me out, when Mr. Sharky is on the surface, Elamon here,” Sloane pointed to Mikey, “can blast the ground with some Ergel's Acid.”

Chloe jumped in, “Ouu, when sharky hits the ground it’s gonna do some damage for sure.”

Mikey added, “Yeah, it’s gonna be pretty bad.”

Sloane continued, “Then Stellers can come in, throw her hammer and hit it with lightning.”

“I like the sound of that,” Stella agreed with Sloane.

Sloane continued, “Then I can-”

Rachel interrupted, “Do what?! Hit’em with what, your ukelele?!”

Sloane replied, “No, Rachel, I’m not going to hit the landshark with my ukelele… I’m gonna stab ‘em with my magic spoon.” Sloane rolled her eyes and mumbled, “God, woman, it’s like you don’t even know what a magic spoon does.”

_*Smack*_

“Ow, my belly button!” Sloane said, rubbing her stomach.

“Does it do that?” Rachel said, glaring at the girl.

\---------------------------

Chloe hit her steering wheel again and looked at the traffic around her. She left Steph’s place, giving herself enough time to get to the building. What she forgot was the highway closure from the fire a couple of days ago. “Goddammit!” Chloe looked out her back truck window at the car next to her, trying to find a spot to move closer. The four-lane highway was merging down into one lane as road maintenance crews worked up ahead. Chloe cursed and swore again at her own stupidity of forgetting. She looked at the time, it was almost midnight, “Fuck, I’m gonna miss her!”

\---------------------------

Max pocketed her phone and sighed, she was ecstatic to see a new message for her when she’d shown up over an hour ago. _She’s not gonna show._ But she felt a little different now, she popped the cap of her white spray and left another message, ‘10/07 11:00 pm’. She hoped that this message of scheduling a time and date would work. She descended the scaffolding and walked back to the main street. Max put her earbuds in and flinched when something touched her cheek. She looked up into the night sky as the rain began to fall. Max hauled up her hoodie’s hood and jogged to the light rail platform, taking the stairs two at a time seeing the subway coming. A truck passed below her, speeding down the street and took a sharp turn at the intersection. Cars blared their horns at the driver running a late amber light. 

Chloe sped down the dark road wishing for herself to already be there. “Come on-come on-come on-come on.” She turned quickly again and drove across an abandoned parking lot. She exited her truck with the headlights and wipers still on and ran in the rain, looking up at the scaffolding. “Dammit!” Chloe shouted, not seeing the girl there. She climbed the scaffolding, hoping at least the girl left a message. Chloe stepped onto the wooden platform and saw the white paint dripping and mixing with the rain on the brick wall. She ran forward. “No-no-no-nooo.” The artist fell to her knees with her hands on the brick building, trying to figure out the ruined message.

“What did you say?... I don’t’...” Chloe slumped forward, defeated, the message was unreadable. The blue-headed punk yelled, hitting the building with the side of her fist, “Goddammit!” _I should’ve left earlier! Fuck! I should’ve remembered about the fuckin’ stupid highway closure. Goddammit! Why do I keep screwing up?! I can’t even leave her a message cause of the stupid fucking rain. Fuck you Seattle! Fuck you and your goddamn rain!_

Chloe descended the scaffolding, not caring that she was getting soaked by the downpour. She got back in her truck and left the lot at a reasonable speed, cursing and swearing at herself for fucking up again. _I’ll show up before work and leave a new message._ Chloe watched her wipers move back and forth, continuing her thought, _If it for one friggin’ moment it stops raining!!_

Max took a seat on the Light Rail Train then took out her phone, feeling it vibrate. She continued her conversation with Kate.

**TEXTuя**   
**📷Max 🠆 🐇Kate**

**Max:** So I left a date and a time for us to meet up, should’ve  
done it in the first place, duh. So tell V I didn’t leave  
my number or email. But I did leave her’s **:P**

 **Kate:** LOL she actually thought you were going to do that **XD**

 **Max: :D** Cu2 in a few days

 **Kate:** Have fun, hope the weather will be good for you and  
you get the shots you need, safe flight **:***

 **Max:** Me2, thx **:***

Max pocketed her phone and looked out the train window as the drops of rain hit and streamed down the side. She [listened to her music](https://youtu.be/W7nmB20qJv4) as her mind wandered to a girl with beautiful blue eyes.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

[ The Interrupters - "Gave You Everything" ](https://youtu.be/3EP7422hggs)

[ Tom Walker - Just You and I (Acoustic) ](https://youtu.be/Qig_yQA7s3w?t=2)

[ Paramore - All I Wanted ](https://youtu.be/W7nmB20qJv4)


	2. Chapter 2

For the next three nights, Chloe returned, and each time her spirit drained a little more seeing that there wasn’t a new message from her mystery girl. _Was the message left to tell me to meet her somewhere else?… or, that she isn’t coming back_? The artist stopped in mid spray of her project, not wanting to finish it. She didn’t have it in her. Chloe put the cans away in her pack, ready to call it a night, then looked up at a section of the building that was untouched. She thought for a moment then the urge to create flowed back into her body. She hauled over her pack and dug in for new colors and began something new.

Chloe finished her artwork as the sun rose on a new day. She tiredly descended the scaffolding and took a look at what she had done. She took a big breath of air and let the somber feeling she used to create her piece to be replaced with hope as she walked down the alley then back to her truck. 

The morning sun traveled along the rooftops, warming up the asphalt and brick. It’s rays lightened up the side of an abandoned building, casting warm colors on a large portrait of a girl with brown hair and a spray of freckles across her nose with pretty deep blue eyes. The words left behind were ones of hope, “Where are you, my partner in crime?”

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Chloe yawned again, feeling miserable as she leaned over, drawing on her tablet. She let out another groan, “AuUuugh, I need more caffeine.”

“Dude, you’re wearing yourself out the past few days,” Steph said, looking at the girl who she found asleep in her beat-up truck when she got to work. “You’re averaging only a few hours of sleep per night…” Steph lowered her voice and tried to be sensitive with her next words, “Maybe… it’s, ya know, time to…” Steph shrugged, “I dunno…”

Chloe looked up with dark circles around her eyes. “I’m not giving up, it’s only been three nights and one of them it was raining. Maybe she has to work at night or something.” Chloe took a bigger breath of air to try and wake up. “I’ll wait until the end of the week.” _Or longer_.

\-------------------

Max had arrived back in Seattle in the early morning. She stopped by her apartment long enough to drop off her suitcase, have a pee, then left with her skateboard.

She traveled down a street, noticing how different the area was from the night. She couldn’t wait for the evening and the scheduled date and time she had left behind. She was too antsy for the past few days and wanted to know if there was a new message left behind for her. As she neared the building her stomach dropped. She stood on the sidewalk looking at a portrait of herself with a question left behind. Max quietly replied, “I’m here, I’m right here.”

Max spent the next few minutes looking at a portrait from the parking lot. _Ho-ly shit_. Then she started taking pictures, feeling so… _oh dog, I have butterflies in my stomach_. Max was so flustered at the gesture that her first two camera shots she had forgotten to take off the lens cap. She smiled as her cheeks flushed at her own giddiness and her nervousness grew, knowing that she would meet her tonight.

Once again she climbed the scaffolding. Her stomach dropped as she saw that her last message had been ruined. _Oh no, you didn’t know I was gone_. She looked at the portrait then took out her can of spray. She climbed back down and took out her Polaroid, taking a selfie with the building in the background, and her new message: ‘Max was here,’ with today’s date and a time to meet that night.

**TEXTuя**   
**📷Max 🠆 🐇Kate**

**Max:** You would never believe what happened.

 **Kate:** What?

 **Max:** I’m at the building. I couldn’t wait. I wanted  
to see if she left a message.

 **Kate:** OMG is she there!? Did you meet her!?!

 **Max:** No she’s not there **:(** but

  
Max took a picture of the wall with her phone and sent it to Kate.

  
 **Kate:** OMG That’s you! She painted you!

\-------------------

Max walked into the Daguerre shop with Victoria and Kate stopping their work. Both looked at Max and waited for her to speak. Max could only smile and it grew with her cheeks blushing as she walked behind the counter.

Kate squeed and giggled, “Oh my God, Max!”

Max giggled and slumped down in a seat, not trying to hide her huge smile. She swiveled the chair a little back and forth, “She painted me.” Max was still in a daze of what the artist did. She put her hand over her face and covered her mouth. “Oh my dog, I can’t wait for tonight. I left a time to meet…” Max sat up, “My last message… it must’ve rained, I can’t remember.” She was mostly talking to herself, which confused the other two girls, “-but she left a portrait.” Max thought about it further. “That’s probably why she left the question asking where I was. She was showing up and I wasn’t in the city. Augh! Oh my dog, she was showing up and I wasn’t-”

“Max,” Victoria said, “Calm down, what are you talking about?”

Max showed them the pictures she took, including the one where her last message was unreadable. “So I think she was showing up every night because she couldn’t read the last message and then she-”

“Painted a ten-foot-tall portrait of you,” Kate gushed.

Max looked disheartened for a moment. “She was showing up and I wasn’t, I hope she doesn’t think I bailed.” Max groaned, “I need to know who she is.”

Victoria spoke up and walked over to the counter, picked up something then went back to them. “Well, I found out what company makes this.” Max had shown them the spray cap that she had found on the scaffolding. Victoria placed it into the girl’s hand. “Yeah?!” Max looked up, excited.

“One of our customers, DaCosta, he stopped by for his prints when you were away. The brand is called Arcadia, it’s a specific brand that graffiti artists use, so you’re not gonna find this in a hardware store.”

Max smiled, “If she doesn’t show up tonight, I’ll look into who carries them, maybe I should do it now.” Max stopped for a moment and looked at the two girls. “Does this make me a stalker… I feel like I’m getting into stalker territory.”

Victoria replied with a smirk, “If you start gathering her chewed gum you would be considered a creep. But for now…” Victoria didn’t finish her sentence, she just smiled.

The brunette rolled her eyes and took out her phone, starting her search. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max found out that Seattle had five stores that carried the graffiti paint. Three were in the central Seattle area while two were far north and would take a while to get there. She decided to stop at one that was on her way home. 

Max [entered the spray store](https://youtu.be/oZ1TSU3cxQ4) hearing music playing. She walked past a few customers and took in the look of the business. Beautiful artwork was hung on the walls. There were custom skateboard and snowboard decks on the wall for sale. A small group of teens sat at a table painting mini-figures, talking about what they were doing. Max walked towards the counter, seeing an older woman there. It wasn’t the type of person Max thought would’ve run a shop like this.

“Hi,” Max greeted her.

“Hi, what can I help you with?”

Max took out her Polaroid of the selfie she took with the two pieces of artwork in the background from her mystery girl. “Ahh, this is kinda a strange question, but...” She showed the woman her picture, “would you happen to know the artist that did the artwork in the background?”

The woman took the picture and looked at it closely, then looked at Max, noticing that she was the girl in the portrait. “No, sorry.” She handed Max the picture back, “I’m actually covering for the owner for an emergency. But if you want to leave the picture and a message on the bulletin board over there-” The older lady pointed to the bulletin board over Max’s shoulder. Max turned, seeing it. “-and you can take the shop’s business card. I’m sure the two of them will help you.” Max took the offered card then thanked the woman and walked to the bulletin board. The woman continued, “Artists are in and out here all the time, they read the board for work or for local music concerts, gatherings and events.” Max thanked the woman again. The photographer pinned the selfie and wrote on the bottom of the Polaroid. “Max was here,” and ‘Daguerre Photo and Print Shop’ on the back, not wanting random people to text or phone her personally. _Dammit, why don’t I have business cards!?_ Max took one last glance around the shop and left.

\-------------------

Steph walked from the back room with Chloe trailing her. “Back.”

“Was the tire expensive?” Joyce asked.

Steph replied with a smile, “The tire is now the most expensive thing on that truck now.” She then giggled, adding, “Then it’s the air freshener.”

Chloe grumbled looking at Steph, “You shush, givin’ my boo a flat.” She looked at her mom as Chloe took off her jacket. “I got a retreaded one for 45 bucks.”

“Anyone show up?” Steph asked, walking around the counter.

“Two came in and picked up their orders,” Joyce replied. “The order that you had for DaCosta, he came in also and picked it up.”

“Sweet,” Chloe replied. “His order just paid for the tire.” Chloe furrowed her brow, smelling something in the air, something familiar. She turned to look at the shop and the customers. One approached her asking a question and brought her out of her thoughts.

Joyce continued talking with Steph, “Someone came in looking for an artist’s work, I mentioned for her to put their inquiry up on the board.”

“Cool, thank you,” Steph replied.

Chloe and a customer walked to the counter with the blue-headed girl handing Steph two cans of spray. “She’ll run you up, dude. Like I said, that primer sets up pretty quick.”

“K, thanks,” the customer replied.

“No prob.” Chloe nodded. 

Joyce walked behind Steph and around the counter.

“Thanks Mom, for the cover,” Chloe said.

Joyce chuckled, “Just remember that when I leave for a sick day, you can cover for me.”

Chloe retorted as Joyce walked towards the door, “Ma, do you really want me to handle people’s food?”

Steph laughed and handed over a bag to the customer, “Half the food would disappear before it reached the table.”

The three laughed as Joyce told Chloe she would see her later and left to go back to the diner.

The two girls took their usual spots in the store. Chloe continued drawing on her tablet by the window and Steph, behind the counter, looked at her half-painted mini DnD figure. The DM leaned over the mini tortle that was held on by a support. She looked at where she left off then shook a tiny paint bottle. “Sooo… you goin’ again?”

“Yeah,” Chloe sighed, “Fuck, I hope she shows.” Chloe looked out the window, feeling herself getting nervous.

As traffic drove by the Vortex, Joyce opened the door to the diner, passing a customer inside with brown hair, a spray of freckles and deep blue eyes, eating a stack of waffles for supper. The waitress put on her apron and grabbed the coffee decanter to do her refill rounds. “Thanks, Alyssa, for covering for me.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Chloe decided to show up an hour before midnight. She turned from the main street and jogged up from the alley and started to slow down, seeing the flashes of red and blue lights ahead. Her hair stood on end at the back of her neck and she cautiously backed away from the alley she was going to emerge from. _What the fuck is going on?_ She walked out of the alleyway, looking behind her to see if anyone had followed her. _Why are the police here?_

Chloe got back into her truck and decided to drive down the street to see what happened.

She drove around the block and then turned down the street. She was forced to stop, seeing multiple police cars around and one that was parked directly across the street. _Shit!_ Chloe couldn’t get close enough to see if something was written on the wall. The officer placed his hand up and then raised his flashlight with an orange cone covering it. Then he pointed to the direction that Chloe came from and walked toward the truck’s window.

“Sorry Ma’am, but the area is closed for an investigation,” The officer stated. “You’ll have to turn around.”

“What happened?” Chloe asked.

“Sorry Ma’am, but I cannot discuss it.”

“Was someone hurt?” Chloe’s mind jumped, asking the question. _Did something happen to her?!_

“Sorry Ma’am, like I said, I cannot discuss it.”

Chloe nodded, rolled up her window then turned the truck around. Her mind started to wander and it wasn’t good thoughts. She wasn’t going to give up, she needed to know.

Chloe drove back to the main street and parked her truck. She jogged into the nearest alley and climbed to a rooftop. She made her way from rooftop to rooftop till she reached the roof of the old shoe factory, passing the police’s taped off area below her on street level. She approached slowly towards the edge. As her artwork came into view she noticed a new large message had been written. Chloe’s heart quickened as she read the message. _‘Max was here,’_ along with today’s date and time. _Her name is Max? Or did someone just spray that they were there?... It’s white paint, she’s been using white paint with all her messages. The time..._ Chloe checked her phone. _I’m on time._ She came out of her thoughts upon hearing the police radios below her. She moved to the edge and carefully peered over the concrete. Two officers were covering a body face down on the ground. Chloe’s eyes widened. _Oh God, did she fall?! No-no-no-no._ Chloe, for the next few minutes, watched speechless as the coroners arrived along with a detective, then a forensic unit. _Fuck, move out of the way, I can’t see!_ Chloe moved back and forth, trying to see around the forensic officers. The detective had lifted the blanket covering the body and Chloe was trying to get a look. She took out her phone to take a picture so that she could zoom in on it. The thought of seeing her mystery girl on the ground scared her. _Please don’t let it be you._

Chloe took a picture, forgetting that her auto flash was on and it alerted an officer below. “Hey, you up there!”

“Shit!”

Chloe pocketed her phone as flashlights beamed up from below. She backed away from the ledge before the lights spotted her. She glanced across to the graffiti building’s roof, seeing someone standing there. _Is that her?!_ Chloe heard the police radios below stating that they were going to the roof. The artist stood looking at the person across from her. Chloe raised her hand to say _Hello, I came, I’m right here! Please see me!_ _Fuck, please see me!_ She couldn’t waste a moment more, she had to go. _Fuck._ As she turned she saw what she needed to see at that moment. The person raised their arm back to say hello. Chloe smiled for a brief moment, knowing that she had been seen and ran across the rooftop, jumping off the ledge to the next building to escape. _Please come back tomorrow._

 _Is that her?!_ Max said to herself as she looked where the officer’s lights were pointed. Like Chloe, Max had shown up and seen the police in the parking lot. She opted to come around at a different location and accessed the graffiti building’s rooftop. There she saw a body and became worried that her mystery girl was killed. With the officer yelling out that someone was on the rooftop, Max stood up and carefully walked towards the edge. There, the mystery girl stood and then, to the surprise of Max, she raised her arm to say hello. _It’s her!_ Max immediately raised her hand to say hello back. Then her mystery girl turned and ran. Max looked down, seeing three officers jog around the shoe factory building that her mystery girl was jumping off of. _Please don’t get caught. I’ll come back tomorrow and the day after that till I meet you._ Max took one last look, then backed away from the rooftop, thinking that it was also best to call it a night.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max returned the next night but never got close to the area. She found out from the news that a second body was found. It looked like it was a shooting over a drug deal and the area was closed off even further to the public for an ongoing investigation. Chloe had also tried but came too close to getting caught and decided to wait for the investigation to be over.

**TEXTuя**   
**📷Max 🠆 🐇Kate**

**Max:** Almost half the block is now taped off.  
I can’t get close, idk what to do.

 **Kate:** OMG

  
Max walked down the main street to head for the light train platform.

  
 **Max:** I’ll try the other graffiti stores on the  
weekend. Hopefully, the police won’t  
be around tmrw

 **Kate:** Yeah, please be safe. I don’t want you  
arrested. Or freakin’ killed!

 **Max:** I’m already walking to the train

 **Kate:** Cu tmrw, night

 **Max:** Night

  
Max looked up from her phone and dug into her sling bag with her body turned away from the street and a parked, old, tan, beat-up truck with a beanie-headed girl looking down texting.

**TEXTuя**   
**☠️Chloe 🠆 🐲Steph**

**Chloe:** Dude it’s fucked there, half the place  
is taped off and cops everywhere. I  
can’t get close.

 **Steph:** Don’t get yourself arrested.

 **Chloe:** I’m in my truck away from the area. I  
don’t know what to do. This is so  
fucked up. Why is it so hard to meet  
this girl?

  
Chloe looked up from her phone and watched the traffic, wondering what to do.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took another two days for the police to leave the area. Chloe decided to drive her truck down the street again instead of taking her normal alley route. As she approached the area her headlights caught the brick building, or what was left of the brick building. The graffiti building, the parking lot and the old shoe factory building was fenced off by a demolishing company. In the lot were parked two High Reach Arm vehicles. Chloe stopped her truck in the street, not caring if someone was behind her. She stared, stunned. The shoe factory building was leveled and the graffiti building was half-destroyed. Her wall was gone… her portrait of the brunette with a spray of freckles and pretty deep blue eyes named Max was gone. All their messages. Chloe felt herself become disheartened. She put her elbow onto her window’s ledge and put her face in her hand, covering her eyes. _No-no-no._ She looked up from her hand and the rubble of brick around the closed-off area. _How am I to find you now?_

Max had walked the same route she did when she got on the roof of the graffiti building. As she got closer, she saw that the area had a temporary fence blocking part of the alleyway. She climbed over the new fencing and took her time, staying close to a wall. The area was now lit up with construction floodlights. She carefully rounded the corner and her mouth dropped open. “No.” It took a few moments. Max was able to keep from the lighting and took a picture of the two destroyed buildings. She didn’t know what to do. She heard and saw an old beat-up truck slowed and stopped in the road. It stayed there, unmoving with the engine still running. Max became uncomfortable seeing it there just stopped on the road. She backed away, keeping to the shadows. She didn’t know if it was someone from the construction crew or someone that might be bad news for her. Max didn’t want to be spotted or caught in the private area so she made her way back to the fence in the alley and left for the night. 

**TEXTuя**   
**📷Max 🠆 🐇Kate**

  
**Max:** image12sa45d.jpg  
 **Max:** The area is destroyed the building is  
gone!!

 **Kate:** What happened?!!

 **Max:** Idk. Just everything is gone

 **Kate:** I don’t knw what to say, Max, I knw  
srry doesn’t help much 

  
Max sighed as she walked back to the train platform. She furrowed her brow and pushed the feeling of despair away.

  
 **Max:** I’m not giving up. I’ll go to the other  
graffiti stores even the ones far north  
and inquire.

\-------------------

Chloe parked her truck after driving around for a while, she didn’t want to go home to an empty apartment. Steph was out on a date and Sloane and Rachel were gone to a party that she didn’t feel like going to. Chloe opened the door to another place she called home and sat in a booth with her back facing the door and stared at the table.

Joyce placed a bill down on the table for the customer. “Here you go, thanks again, have a good evening.” Then she walked away and noticed her daughter in her usual spot.

“Hi sweetie, You were working late?” Joyce asked. She turned over a coffee cup and poured.

Chloe slumped in the booth and tapped her finger lightly against a spoon. “No… I was to meet someone… they didn’t show.” Chloe’s voice trailed away as she looked out the diner window. 

Joyce felt for her daughter. “I’m sorry, it’s her loss to not show up.”

“Well, the place we were to meet up was bulldozed.” Chloe looked up at her mom who looked confused. “I met someone at a site when I-”

Joyce replied with a monotone voice, “Sprayed illegally.”

“Well, it wasn’t illegal if it was an abandoned building and I made it look better with a butterfly and a portrait of a girl. We didn’t have any time to meet before-”

Joyce placed the coffee pot on the table. “The police showed up.”

“No! God, Mom! No, the police didn’t show up.” _Not at the time_. “She scared me and I ran… I didn’t get her name. I’ve been showing up every night trying to meet her but we keep missing each other and we were leaving messages on the brick wall that is now destroyed.”

Joyce chuckled a little, “My daughter the romantic, illegally spray-painting butterflies, leaving messages and was scared by a short girl with brown hair and blue eyes?

Chloe replied quickly, “Yeah… wait. How’d you know?”

“A young woman came into your shop-” Joyce stopped and turned, looked at the last booth she had just given a bill to. “She was just here.”

Chloe jumped up from the booth with the spoon sliding off the table. “Where?!” Chloe quickly walked down the diner looking at the now empty booth with dirty dishes and cash left under a coffee cup. Chloe turned to her mother. “When did she leave?!”

“She was just here!” Joyce looked at the exit.

Chloe placed her hands on her mother’s upper arms. “What did she look like?!” Chloe didn’t give her mother enough time to answer so the girl just started stating what she knew, "Brunette, blue eyes, freckles across her nose.” Chloe used her arm to show her mother, “And stood about this tall.”

Joyce, surprised at her daughter’s reaction, nodded, “Yes.” Chloe ran out of the diner.

The artist stood at an intersection corner just outside the diner. Chloe looked down each street, seeing people she didn’t know walking on the sidewalks. _Where are you? You’re here?! Do you know who I am?_ Chloe whispered looking in every direction again, “Fuck!” She shouted out hoping it was the girl’s name. “Max!...” She looked around for anyone to turn and look back. “Max!” People turned this time to look at her. Chloe’s eyes darted to each person looking at her, “Max!” A girl walked across the crosswalk with earbuds in and her hood up. She tucked her hands into her jacket pocket not hearing her name being called out or the girl desperately looking for her. “Max!...”

Chloe eventually gave up and walked back into the diner, cursing. Outside, vehicles slowed down and stopped at the intersection. A taxi driver looked to his right, seeing a girl burst through the diner’s doors, running. He shook his head, talking with his customer in the back seat, then moved his vehicle with the traffic.

Chloe ran towards her shop. Her mother looked out a diner window, watching her daughter running down the sidewalk.

Chloe couldn’t get her keys out fast enough. Her hands shook as she tried to put the key in her shop’s door. The lock clicked open and she stepped through and hit the light switch, turning on half the lights. It didn’t matter, she knew the layout. She went to the bulletin board and hauled announcements, posters, notifications, things for sale off. Then, behind an ad for a mountain bike, she spotted the corner of a Polaroid. She tore away the bike ad and looked at her mystery girl. Chloe’s heart rapidly quickened. She held her breath as she looked at the message on the bottom. Slowly and with shaking hands, Chloe gently took the thumbtack out of the photo, looking at the beautiful girl that she only got a glance at in the darkness. Chloe whispered, “You were here… Max.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max stood in the Chase Space Gallery at the end of another evening; this time inside a building instead of on the roof of one. It was her first official gallery showing of her work. One corner of the gallery was dedicated to her and she felt a sense of accomplishment. She shook hands with a buyer of one of her photographs and said good evening to him before he walked away. The photographer took the last mouthful of champagne then rolled her neck. She turned to walk back to a specific photo again on display placing her empty glass on a serving table. She smiled at visitors as she walked by, then stopped and looked up.

“Who was that?” Kate asked as Victoria walked over to her girlfriend after talking with an insistent blue-headed punk that wanted and pushed her way into the RSVP-only event. “She asked about Max, said that someone named Rach had her ticket and-”

“Oh my God, is that her?!” Kate said, grabbing Victoria by the arm.

The quiet sound of metal clinking against metal was heard as Max played with the three bullets around her neck. She was lost in a memory looking at her photograph. The moonlight silhouetted the artist standing on the scaffolding. The girl was in mid-spray of creating her artwork of a blue butterfly. _Who are you?_

“Her name is Chloe.” 

Max came out of her small daze. She turned, then froze. There, before the photographer stood the artist with a small smirk. It was like the air was taken out of the room. For a moment both girls couldn’t breathe. Their next breath was one done together as they took a step forward with anticipation.

Sloane had unfolded a serving napkin and tucked it over her shirt’s collar, making a bib for herself. With her mouth half-full of cocktail weenies and more piled up on another serving napkin, she strolled up behind Kate and Victoria, who were intently staring. Sloane looked back and forth at the two blondes then at the two people in the distant corner, “What has you two so- oh hey, Chloe’s here.”

Victoria and Kate slowly turned to look at the girl who was staring down at the catering table, shoving another weenie in her mouth as she continued talking. “She owns a paint shop and does graffiti working on the side. I was gonna set her and Ma-” Sloane, with her mouth packed like a squirrel, looked up and stopped chewing, seeing the look on both of their faces. “Wut?” The two didn’t say a thing but just stared. Sloane retorted, “You said I could eat as many as I wanted!”

The artist looked down at the spray of freckles across a nose, then into deep blue eyes. “Max?”

The photographer looked up at a captivating smirk, then into sky blue eyes and whispered, “Chloe?”

A hand was held out with a small one slipping into it and a lifetime of memories had begun.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[The Donnas - Dancing with Myself](https://youtu.be/oZ1TSU3cxQ4)

**Author's Note:**

> **Other stories, check em' out** | **Music Playlists**  
> ---|---  
> [Adrenaline](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22131271) | **Life is Strange - Pricefield**  
> [And That's How I Would Do It](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24501835) |  [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ohME6aIJFML0ekXf0nZzF)  
> [Belly Button](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25683547) |  [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNcn8xzWbTEZzA99kgxVbMBcylMw3On6v)  
> [Chloe Claus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28306863) |   
> [Life is Saw](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20893310/chapters/49664687) |   
> [Moving Forward](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24871243) | **Chloe Price - Priceless**  
> [Social Distancing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24266878/chapters/58484278) |  [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1oQOVxgWOdH03rrjTUC8eR?si=zp73LwzyS16j2VedBOUCow)  
> [Tagged](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23817673/chapters/57227440) |  [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNcn8xzWbTEY_YbjrjTAH5znCwDScqoUD)  
> [The Chase **NEW!**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25479217/chapters/61805629) |   
> [This Action Will Have Consequences](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18360968/chapters/43474439) |   
> [Watchers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24919501/chapters/60305110) |   
> | 


End file.
